Ashurbanipal

Ashurbanipal (died 627 BC) was King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 668 BC to 627 BC, succeeding Esarhaddon and preceding Assur-etel-ilani. He was the last great Assyrian king, conquering Egypt, Libya, and Elam, and the last twenty years of his reign were peaceful. After his death, the empire was weakened by a series of civil wars which resulted in its destruction in 605 BC.

Biography
Ashurbanipal was the son of Esarhaddon and the brother of Shamash-shum-ukin, and, upon their father's death in 668 BC, Ashurbanipal became the Assyrian king in Nineveh, while Shamash-shum-ukin became king in Babylon. Ashurbanipal was a popular king among the Assyrians, but was known for the cruelty shown towards his enemies, including putting a dog chain of an Arabian king and forcing him to live in a dog kennel. He continued his father's war against Kush and Nubia in Egypt, and he campaigned deep into Egypt, destroying the Kushite Empire and conquering Libya. In 667 BC, he defeated the Kushite king Taharqa near Memphis, and he also defeated rebellious Egyptian vassals. Necho I became the Assyrian puppet pharaoh of Egypt, but, in 664 BC, the new Kushite king Tantamani invaded Egypt and slew Necho in battle. Ashurbanipal sent in another army, which also defeated the Kushites, and the Assyrians plundered Thebes. That same year, he vassalized the Elamites after they launched a failed invasion of Assyria. Under Ashurbanipal, the Neo-Assyrian Empire stretched from the Caucasus in the north to North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula in the south, and from Cyprus and the Levant in the west to Iran in the east. In 652 BC, Shamash-shum-ukin rebelled in Babylon, but a host of peoples besieged and burned Babylon, with Shamash-shum-ukin throwing himself and all of his concubines and possessions into the fire rather than be captured. Ashurbanipal enjoyed peace during the last two decades of his reign, and he died in 627 BC. After his death, Assyria declined due to a series of civil wars which weakened the empire.